All right folks, here's your chance to spread the word. There are a lot of great flicks out there (like Serenity) that should be seen by all, but for some reason flop or are ignored at the box office. Heck, half the films up for oscars no one has heard of until they see the nominations. So here's my contribution.

List 10 movies that got NO or very little hype that you think folks should see. Take time to read the other posts and add different films to the list. Also,m if you can't think of ten, post what you have...David Letterman...everything has to be top 10's anymore.

Here's a list for starters:

Grosse Pointe Blank: John Cusack as an assassin who goes back home for his high school reunion. Priceless and probably my favorite film...oh, did I mention Dan Akroyd plays a rival hitman. WHAT CASTING!

Mumford: Small town shrink story, with some surprising twists.

Zero Effect: Bill Pullman as a very realistic BATMAN type superhero. And his sideckick...Ben Stiller! No spandex and a great superhero movie to boot.

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra: Made extremely on the cheap (about $5000), it's written and directed like the worst of the worst 50's sci-fi films. And it's gorram hilarious.

A Simple Plan: People either know Sam Raimi for directing the Evil Dead films or the Spider-Man films, but he's also got some great dramas out there too. This one is his best. About Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thorton finding a crashed plane with a bag full of money. Bad things happen.

The Quick and the Dead: Another one of those Raimi films that he did between Evil Dead and Spider-Man. While it's not the best western ever made, it's definitely the coolest. Russell Crowe is great in his first American role.

Cronos: Spanish film about vampires. Possibly the most realistic vampire film ever. Certainly the least ridiculous. Guillermo Del Toro is a genius.

October Sky: The story about a coal miner's son who just wants to build rockets. Any course on the history of the American space program should have this as its core film. Jake Gyllenhall before he became a douche.

The Hudsucker Proxy: My absolute favorite Coen Bros. film got completely ignored at the box office. It is a bit odd in terms of story, but then again it's just classic Coen

Hellboy: Last year's best comic book film (barely edging out Spider-Man 2). Like a cross between Ghostbusters and Men in Black. And just as fun as both. I guess audiences don't like their heroes to be demons from Hell. Go figure.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico: Part 3 in Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi trilogy. It's convoluted as all hell, but it's also a hell of a lot of fun. Johnny Depp nearly steals the film right out from under Antonio Banderas.

The Iron Giant: Best traditionally animated film in the past 10 years. Yet nobody saw it.

Forgotten Silver: Wasn't exactly released in theaters, but Peter Jackson's documentary about the world's first filmmaker is every bit as wonderful as the rest of his films. If you can find it, it's definitely worth your money. Plus, the ultimate joke is great if you figure it out.

Leon. Just awesome. How did Natalie Portman sink to such depths in later (sic) life? Gary Oldman playing a different cop to Sergeant Gordon. Fewer Elvis impersonations.

One From The Heart. Colours and Music

Mr Deeds. Remake of a classic, which tends to make snobs have a stroke, but I just really like it. Adam Sandler amuses me a lot.

Freaky Friday. Teen film, but without the lameness that those two words normally invoke. People acting well and looking like they are having a real laugh doing it. When did you last see that? Oh yes, that would be anything Firefly-related...

Any early Steven Seagal film where he's hitting people, and not whingeing about the state of the planet. Or singing.

The Hunt For Red October.

The Princess Bride.

Best in Show.

That's probably more than ten, but less than I could list if my Alzheimer's wasn't playing up.

I am SO a fan of Trancers and Trancers 2!!!
I want to KILL someone that they're not on dvd!!!(Yeah, I know the first one is, but my videotape looks better!!)

Other hidden gems:
Cherry 2000 - where Joss got the idea for the Buffybot (maybe).
Blood of Heroes -Rutger Hauer at his best!
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever - much maligned, but much fun.
Fire and Ice - For my money, Bakshi's best 'toon.
Logan's Run - I don't hear this minor classic mentioned enough!
Timecop 2 - No, not Van Damme, Jason Scott Lee! And is he great or what?

Sentinal, you are a god! Zero Effect?
I actually own this movie, what a gem. Anybody who scoffs at the idea of a great movie with Bill Pullman or Ben Stiller (which would be me actually) I doubly encourage.

I try not to repeat myself in the movie threads, so I'll save some for when I come back to read this later, and I'll only including recent movies.

"Nobody Knows" A Japanese movie about a much too young single mother of many children. She leaves them home alone while she goes out to pretend she has another life where these children don't exist. They have never been to school and are not allowed to leave the apartment. That's about as much as was in the trailer.

"Born Into Brothels" Filmed in India, it's about 8 children of prostitutes who are given a chance to practice photography. It puts a very human face on something most of us would never otherwise notice, breaks your heart and lets you hope.

"Old Boy" Has one of the most visually stunning fight scenes I have ever seen ever, and I'm not going to tell you a thing about it.

"2046" Beautiful, just stunning. Yeah, and they call it SF, so I hear.

"The Twilight Samurai" It's been over a year since I've seen this one, so I considered not including it, but it makes a nice bouquet with the rest. In the same month I also saw "Hero" which I enjoyed very much, and "House of Flying Daggers" which, eh, especially when compared to the other two.

"Kung Fu Hustle" Did I only see asian movies this year? I went with a dozen martial artists (no I'm not, only a little karate) and every one of us choked on our coke it was so funny.

"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" Worth it for the Bowie sung in Portugese by Seu George alone, and so you won't think I didn't like anything American besides "Serenity".

I love these choices! Excellent all of them! Old Boy and its predecessor are 'hard' films... not for the weak!

However the Jeepers Creepers I&II choice some mentioned before, I totally disagree with. IMO it ranks down there with 'Battlefield Earth' the Travolta bomb...

Quote:Originally posted by liminalosity:
Some ideas I like right off the bat!

Sentinal, you are a god! Zero Effect?
I actually own this movie, what a gem. Anybody who scoffs at the idea of a great movie with Bill Pullman or Ben Stiller (which would be me actually) I doubly encourage.

I try not to repeat myself in the movie threads, so I'll save some for when I come back to read this later, and I'll only including recent movies.

"Nobody Knows" A Japanese movie about a much too young single mother of many children. She leaves them home alone while she goes out to pretend she has another life where these children don't exist. They have never been to school and are not allowed to leave the apartment. That's about as much as was in the trailer.

"Born Into Brothels" Filmed in India, it's about 8 children of prostitutes who are given a chance to practice photography. It puts a very human face on something most of us would never otherwise notice, breaks your heart and lets you hope.

"Old Boy" Has one of the most visually stunning fight scenes I have ever seen ever, and I'm not going to tell you a thing about it.

"2046" Beautiful, just stunning. Yeah, and they call it SF, so I hear.

"The Twilight Samurai" It's been over a year since I've seen this one, so I considered not including it, but it makes a nice bouquet with the rest. In the same month I also saw "Hero" which I enjoyed very much, and "House of Flying Daggers" which, eh, especially when compared to the other two.

"Kung Fu Hustle" Did I only see asian movies this year? I went with a dozen martial artists (no I'm not, only a little karate) and every one of us choked on our coke it was so funny.

"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" Worth it for the Bowie sung in Portugese by Seu George alone, and so you won't think I didn't like anything American besides "Serenity".

Some of the best cinematography you'll see, and as the tag line says, "Elvis is dead, and Vegas needs a new king". It's the story of one rocker's (Buddy) journey across Death Valley, with 6 string guitar and samurai sword, while being chased by a Rastafarian Death. Plus with a sound track by The Red Elvises and some great writing how can you go wrong.

Mesh-Head: If I were you, I'd run!
Buddy: If you were me, you'd be good-looking.

Death: You have failed me for the last... nice shoes!

Ward Cleaver: You ever try a pink golf ball, Wally? Why, the wind shear alone on a pink golf ball can take the head off a 90-pound midget at over 300 yards.

Star Trek: Nemesis was a blatantly desperate attempt to re-make Wrath of Kahn. It had some good moments, but come on, the entire B-4 (cute) subplot was incredibly lame. I can't imagine a more obviouse cop-out than killing a major character, and providing a back-up for possible sequels.

Sure, they killed Spock, and brought him back, but having some subtle foreshadowing of his return (touching McCoy's face and saying "Remember") was way better than supplying a half-retarded back-up copy who conveniently has all of Data's memories downloaded into it.

Unbreakable - I've met a few people who are hostile toward this film, but I love M. Night Shyamalan's take on the super hero mythos. I hope he makes a sequel or two so he can flesh out this world he has created.

Farewell: Live from the Universal Amphitheatre Halloween 1995 - Danny Elfman fans listen up! Farewell is a three hour concert extravaganza documenting Oingo Boingo's final performance. Includes interviews, music videos and historical footage of the band's early Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo days.

Well, still can't agree that Insurection was the best Star Trek movie, for me that's a toss-up between Wrath of Kahn and First contact, but Insurection had some good stuff.

I guess I should actually contribute to the topic, so here's some of my overlooked gems:

Out of Sight: My favorite Soderberg movie, and the only thing I can stand Jennifer Lopez in. George Clooney, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle and Steve Zahn are all great in it.

Dark City: Beautiful gothic fantasy, which covers the same thematic ground as the Matrix, but almost a year earlier. Also gets bonus points for starring my favorite woman in the world, Jennifer Connelly.

Six String Samurai: Already mentioned, but worth bringing up. Not much of a story, but goofy and fun. The dessert duel between Buddy Holly and Richie Valenz (in shiny gold jacket) had me rolling. Don't see how the villain was a rastafarian, struck me as Alice Cooper meets Slash, but whatever.

LA Confidential: Not exactly overlooked, since it was a Best Picture nominee, and starred some big names before they were big names. But it does seem to have been forgotten in the last few years, which is a shame since it's a wonderful film.

Daredevil - Director's Cut: I would call overlooked because so many people hated the theatrical cut that I doubt thay'd take a chance on the original director's cut. It is a much harder-edged film, with more character development, and an actual plot! My favorite change, instead of Daredevil single-handedly bringing down the Kingpin, in this version, while Daredevil's off playing superhero, John Favreau and Joe Pantoliano are actually the ones to out and bring down the big bad - legally.

Quote:Originally posted by Storymark:
Daredevil - Director's Cut: I would call overlooked because so many people hated the theatrical cut that I doubt thay'd take a chance on the original director's cut. It is a much harder-edged film, with more character development, and an actual plot! My favorite change, instead of Daredevil single-handedly bringing down the Kingpin, in this version, while Daredevil's off playing superhero, John Favreau and Joe Pantoliano are actually the ones to out and bring down the big bad - legally.

Some good stuff up there. I like Hellboy, but I didn't put it in because I forgot, and it's still a bit new.

And good to find another Adam Sandler Fan. The Waterboy and Happy Gilmore are great, but The Wedding Singer makes it as a good film in its own right.

The Rock. For the only time you heard a Ferrari being properly redlined.

Sin City. Still new, and a little too uncompromising to probably be a box-office hit, but a future gold-plated cult classic. Now you get more hits than you'd expect from putting "Elijah Wood" and "Badass" into Google.

No hits at all for Amelie, but you really can't fault it. And Matthieu Kassovitz did "La Haine" Wow.

(Old French joke... Riots in Paris. Officially now the longest anyone has fought over it without someone surrendering. Oh, you've heard it?).

School of Rock may not have done as well as it might. I dunno. Good though. That Joan Cusack. Loved her since Marcella.

Quote:Unbreakable - I've met a few people who are hostile toward this film, but I love M. Night Shyamalan's take on the super hero mythos. I hope he makes a sequel or two so he can flesh out this world he has created.

Actually, Shyamalan made Unbreakable as the first act in a 3-act comic story. According to him, the story goes:

Act 1: The hero discovers his powers/nemesis.
Act 2: The hero is defeated by his nemesis.
Act 3: The hero and nemesis have their ultimate battle.

And I've heard some rumblings that Shyamalan might go back and do 2 and 3. I'd love nothing more than to see those made.

Also, kudos on pointing out Shaun of the Dead and Bubba Ho-tep. Two of my absolute favorites!

I will see anything Robert Altman makes, though I wasn't crazy about Dr Gere and the Women. He picks lots of great actors, tells them just what he wants, then trusts them to give it to him. Usually brilliance ensues.

Quote:Six String Samurai: Already mentioned, but worth bringing up. Not much of a story, but goofy and fun. The dessert duel between Buddy Holly and Richie Valenz (in shiny gold jacket) had me rolling. Don't see how the villain was a rastafarian, struck me as Alice Cooper meets Slash, but whatever.

Jackiechan! Jackiechan! Jackiechan! What a guy! But I have only seen the American cut.
I'm also crazy about Jet Li, but I wish he could do parts that let him smile sometimes.
Silver Hawk I don't recognize, it'll go on the list.
Solaris was enjoyable, but I didn't think it was great. I do really like futuristic stuff filmed on location. Where the heck did they film Miranda? It had kind of an Arco Santi look to it.

God, after the screaming horror of the Zardoz thread last week, I forgot how much fun a movie thread can be!

I've actually been to Arco Santi, it was so cool!! Made me want to live there!!!!!

OK, HK version, will traipse to find. I really enjoy seeing the original versions of movies that have been sanitized for Americans. Saw the re-release of original content Godzilla recently on the big screen. Wonderful stuff, and so pretty on a big screen with real blacks and whites instead of TV blacks and whites.

Hippie.
Yeah, I've been there too, and wished it was possible. It was at least 8 parts great idea, and I gave it big scores for what execution there was too, nestled into the hillside.

Hmmmm. 10 movies that dob't get much press or viewing. Let's ee what we got...

1. The Thin Blue Line - A chilling documentary by Errol Morris that dipects how easily the law can be corrupted and how justice can get lost in the shuffle.
2. Barry Lyndon - A truely under-appreciated film from Stanley Kubrick. Calm pacing, brilliant lighting, amazing wadrobe and an outstanding narration come together to form a quiet tale of ambition and failure in the age of pre-Victorian Europe.
3. Titus - Director Julie Taymor's bloody and brutal revisioning of Shakespear's bloody and brutal play, "Titus Andronocus". Actor Harry Lenox gives a tour de force performance as what I now consider to be The Bard's greatest villain, Aaron the Moor.
4. Rashomon - What is the truth? And what is perspective? Is it the same for every person? Or are there subtle differences within it that change from one telling of a tale to the next? Or from one person to another? Director Akira Kurosawa asks these questions in his cinematic search for what really happened that afternoon out in the dark heart of a quiet Japanese forest.
5. Videodrome - David Cronenburg's snuff-like venture into one man's disturbing search to find where his reality ends and the revolution of the New Flesh begins.

Whoops! Time to get off of work. I'll finish this up later on this evening. Ciao.

First and foremost Dark City. It’s a fantastic film I caught one night on channel 5 (I had read a dvd review of it a while back and it had stuck in my memory). How this slipped by unnoticed I don’t know. But of all the underrated films, this has to be number one.

Now from one extreme to the other – Josie and the Pussycats – it looks and sounds like a film for girls under 10, but it so isn’t. This was definitely one of the most underrated movies. It has an unbelievable amount of product placement, but of course that’s the point – as this is a movie about subliminal messages being inserted in music to get brainless teens to buy anything the marketers want. Its got so many great lines in it, and although I’ve had people call it a kids film or that I must watch it for the three lead females, they really are missing the point. The fact that Rachael Leigh Cook looks so hot is merely a bonus.

Garden State may have gotten a lot of praise, but as a small indie flick from first time writer/director Zach Braff (of Scrubs), I suspect there are a lot of people out there who have never heard of it, let alone seen it. Although it has far too much swearing in it for my liking, it’s a warm and at times very funny movie. And if you haven’t fallen in love with Natalie Portman by the end of it, you must be dead

Pieces of April is another independent film that, like Garden State, I had to wait for a dvd release because my local cinemas (that’s 3 altogether) weren’t showing it. I can’t even begin to do it justice in describing it, but I will say that it is an incredibly moving, funny and ultimately uplifting movie that deserves to be seen.

Unbreakable has been mentioned before but it is one of those movies that people seem to love or hate. I happen to fall in the former category. I didn’t like it at first, but I saw it again, and again and again and my love for it grows each time. The shocking thing is that of all the Hollywood movies produced, this is not getting a sequel, even though the original intention was that it would be the first in a trilogy (kinda like the original Stargate movie) – yet we still get trashy sequels to Tomb Raider, The Fast and the Furious and XXX (I may actually like XXX, but doing a sequel to it without the main guy = stupid)

Linked to Unbreakable is Signs, another M Night Shyamalan movie that divides audiences. Again, I loved it

The Butterfly Effect was not a huge hit but I felt it was rather good. It was very downbeat pretty much the whole way through and I can understand why people would be put off by the subject matter, but if you can stomach the strong content then I’d recommend it. Plus Ashton Kutcher is actually good in it

Actually that reminds me of The Cooler. It was full of strong language, sex and violence but I quite enjoyed it. Yes, I enjoyed it despite the hideous-looking Maria Bello bearing all.

Now for a bit of a comedy, I’d have to recommend Zoolander. I can’t remember how well it did at the box office because I didn’t see it till it had been on dvd for a while. I laughed and laughed watching that. It has to be one of my favourite “Frat Pack” comedies... though Dodgeball is pretty close behind, and Anchorman too

Shaun of the Dead has been mentioned in other posts, but as far as I know, it was quite popular over here in the UK, so I don’t feel right in mentioning it as if it was underrated. But it is excellent.

Tenth (not including Shaun that is) would be Daredevil: Director’s Cut. I liked the theatrical cut, but the Director’s cut is so much better. This needs to be seen

Honorary mentions:

Hulk – got a lot of bad press and I didn’t think much to it the first time, but when I watched it the second time I could see that it wasn’t that bad. It was a really good psychological drama… the only problem is that occasionally the main guy would turn into a big green cgi lump. Seriously though, the only problems I really had with this the second time round was with the CGI (but that can be ignored) and the end battle between Hulk and… well to avoid spoilers, I’ll refer to him as “The Bad Guy”. I felt that final battle wasn’t necessary and could have ended with the bad guy captured before he broke loose and took part in a CGI filled battle with the Hulk in which nobody could tell what was going on. "Which one’s winning?" I would ask myself whilst trying to watch. Other than that, this is a movie worth checking out

Guy In Row Five – doesn’t really count since it’s not been given an official release and I only saw it online at Cinequest. It’s about a guy who’s an extra in a film and is convinced it will be his breakthrough and that he is a bigger star than he actually is. Its got some really funny moments, such as where we see evidence of how much the main guy loves James Cameron’s film Titanic. If you get the chance, download the movie from cinequest for yourself. Its free, and not illegal

Three Amigos – I don’t know how this did at the box office, but it was one of those movies I grew up watching time and time again. And yet I still can watch it and laugh at scenes I’ve seen hundreds of times

Quote:Lucky Day: Not so fast El Guapo! Or I'll pump you so full of lead you'll be using your dick for a pencil!
El Guapo: What do you mean?
Lucky Day: I don't know.

That’s all for now… I’m sure there’s plenty more I haven’t thought of yet

Oh wait, The Dead Zone with Christopher Walken… how did that do? That’s great. And as for romantic comedies, Blast from the Past, While you were Sleeping and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days are excellent

I almost forgot!
The Road Home, my pick for one of the BEST movies ever. From HK, stars that chick from Crouching Tiger, Xyang- something. No fights, just a real story about love (get your tissues ready).

Ok, I only have a few absolute favorite movies that not too many people know about:

Remo Williams-The Adventure Begins... Based on the Destroyer series of books, this movie was hilarious, and under rated. The books are good too.

Escape From New York One of John Carpenter's best films of all time. Unfortunately, he followed it up with one of his worst, Escape From L.A.

Big Trouble in Little China Being a Carpenter fan, this movie is hilarious. Kurt Russell is great: "You know what Jack Burton would say at a time like this? WHO? Me! Jack Burton..." It just cracks me up.

Clerks Kevin Smith's low-budget intro to movies is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Black and white, and made by charging the $26,000 it took to make the film on his credit cards, this movie is a must see if you've ever been in a convience store. Yes, it's crude, and the language is a strong "R", but I highly recommend it if you aren't easily offended.

Jayhawk

---
Zoë: Shepard, isn't the Bible kind of specific about killing?
Book: Very specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzy around the area of kneecaps.

Quote:Originally posted by Storymark:
Star Trek: Nemesis was a blatantly desperate attempt to re-make Wrath of Kahn. It had some good moments, but come on, the entire B-4 (cute) subplot was incredibly lame. I can't imagine a more obviouse cop-out than killing a major character, and providing a back-up for possible sequels.

Sure, they killed Spock, and brought him back, but having some subtle foreshadowing of his return (touching McCoy's face and saying "Remember") was way better than supplying a half-retarded back-up copy who conveniently has all of Data's memories downloaded into it.
B]

Brent Spiner already said that he didn't want to do Data anymore. So I highly doubt their going to make another Star Trek TNG movie and if they do, it won't have Brent Spiner in it.

Carlos: How long will you be staying in Carlotta?
Rigby: We're leaving on the first plane out.
Carlos: Good! That gives me four hours to wash and press your payamas!

But I still crack up every time I think of that scene from "The Man with Two Brains", where Steve Martin walks in on two orderlies who are in the operating room, standing beside Kathleen Turner's gurney (at about the middle)...

Steve Martin: What are you two doing?
Orderly: We're shaving her.
Steve Martin: This is a brain operation! (glances down)
(beat)
What's that supposed to be, anyway?
Orderly: It's Christmas!

---------------

Deep Thoughts...
...by Jack Handey...

"Whether they ever find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be considered an enemy planet."

Once Were Warriors. When I saw that Temura Morrison was going to be Jango Fett, I thought, OK. He's hard enough, and if there's a bar fight... Completely wasted. Damn.

And if you were to start a "Best Fights" thread, Martin Blank v. Felix Poubelle would have to be right at the top. Everyone uses Kung Fu now as a non-violent way of portraying a punch-up (American cop shows - all the cops do Kung-Fu (I'm using the term generically) and all the baddies do too? How many dojos can there be.

Anyway I digress. The Grosse Pointe Blank fight had a real desperation to it. Someone was definitely going to walk away dead, no question.

Muriel's Wedding. Everyone should see this. Really. A lot blacker than it sounds.

Addams Family Values. Incredible established cast, yet Joan Cusack strolls in and is a long way from intimidated or overshadowed.

The Commitments. 30 year old fat bloke. Brilliant and only 16... Imelda did look deadly.

My Blue Heaven. When Steve Martin was funny.

The Dish. Best shot ever, just as one of the Aussies is bitching about the NASA guy "...we're professionals..."

The Killer. Everyone; seen that right? Why not, then?

The Last Boy Scout. Shoot everyone and smoke some cigarettes. Hit me again and I'll kill you.

I'm sure Reign of Fire didn't do as well as it should have. No, really. Having your planet overrun by bad dragons really would depress anyone.

Toys. This usually makes it into worst lists. but it is actually great.

Dodgeball. Maybe it was a hit. Won't stop me nominating it, though. As a concept, it looks really appalling, but it's executed with such good nature, and unruffled cool from Vince Vaughan, I've got to give it an "Arrrrrrr."

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